Author: Tamamian Anna

CONGRESS REMEMBERS A NEVER FORGOTTEN SURVIVOR OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
04.04.2008 10:34

On March 31, 2008, Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6) paid tribute
on the House floor in memory of Armenian Genocide survivor Askouhy
Jallyan-Vassilian who passed away on February 27th, 2008, shortly after
celebrating her 94th birthday. Vassilian, who was present during the
House Foreign Affairs Committee markup of H. Res. 106, the Armenian
Genocide Resolution, on October 10, 2007, lived in Cong. Pallone’s
district, and was one of the remaining survivors of the genocide.

Following Cong. Pallone’s remarks, her son, Dr. Asbed Vassilian, a
professor of chemistry and director of the Armenian Studies Program
at Rutgers University in New Jersey, reflected on Cong. Pallone’s
statement with the following:

Congressman Frank Pallone’s remarks are really touching, and I am
personally grateful that his office, upon your request, made those
remarks. Regarding my mother, she just wanted justice to prevail
and that all those who perished in 1915 and who did not have any
descendents as she did as a survivor, should be recognized and their
memories should eternally be kept alive. Across from her bed, she
had the picture of her father, Nazaret, who she lost when she was ten
months old. She never knew him. My grandmother had the picture above
her bed all the time she was alive, and my mother kept it after my
grandmother died and put it across her bed so that every night she
would look at it before going to bed.

Having seen and experienced the good, the bad and the ugly, my mother
had a calming effect on the new generation whenever they came and
complained about the problems they were having in their lives. She
would tell them to be happy with what they have, and not sad or angry
with what they lack; mainly, count your blessings and thank God. She
would tell them to look at the problems with the microscope inverted:
rather than seeing small things big, try to see the big things
small. She was a happy, energetic, sharp minded, and most importantly,
content, reconciled with her life, with its ups and downs. She was
thankful to the St. Stepanos Church community for giving her the
spiritual nourishment and to her new host country, the United States,
for taking care of her over so many years. I will always miss her.

The following is the text of the remarks offered by Cong. Pallone

IN HONOR OF ASKOUHY JALLYAN-VASSILIAN – Madam Speaker, I rise today
to honor Askouhy Jallyan-Vassilian and her dedication to her community
and the Armenian people. Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian was a survivor of the
genocide inflicted upon the Armenian people. She was the embodiment
of the enduring human spirit.

Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian was born Askouhy Jallyan on February 12, 1914,
in Orfa, Turkey. Her mother, Khanem, had married in 1913 and was 18
years old when she gave birth to her only daughter. Khanem was widowed
in 1915 when her husband, Nazaret, was murdered. Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian
was able to flee the horrors of genocide when she escaped with her
mother to neighboring Syria.

Later, Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian married her husband Missak
Vassilian at the age of 19. Together they raised three sons and a
daughter. She was also the proud grandmother of 10 grandchildren
and 12 great-grandchildren. Her son, Asbed Vassilian, is currently a
professor of chemistry at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
and is the head of that school’s Armenian studies program.

On October 10, 2007, Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian attended a markup session
of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs as it
worked on a resolution recognizing the deplorable deprivation of
human rights that occurred during the Armenian genocide. She had
waited 92 years for the United States Congress to recognize the
genocide and suffering that her people had endured at the hands of
hate and intolerance.

Mrs. Jallyan-Vassilian passed away on February 27, 2008. She
will be remembered for her devotion to her Armenian heritage and
her commitment to the cause of those Armenians who suffered wanton
violence and cruelty.

Madam Speaker, I sincerely hope that my colleagues will join me in
celebrating the life of Askouhy Jallyan-Vassilian. Her legacy will
continue to serve as a reminder of the audacity of human resilience."

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

4 April 2008

Raffi Hovannisian Meets Ukrainian Deputy FM Kostiantyn Yelisieiev

Yerevan–Today Raffi K. Hovannisian received at the National Assembly an
official Ukrainian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kostiantyn Yelisieiev. The visiting delegation, which is in Armenia to hold
consultations with the Armenian foreign ministry, also wished to conduct a
special meeting with the leader of the Heritage Party’s parliamentary group
and Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi Hovannisian. During
the meeting, Hovannisian presented Heritage’s position on the foreign policy
challenges facing Armenia, the pacific and lawful resolution of Artsakh’s
quest for liberty, the European integration aspirations of Armenia, and the
avenues for overcoming the current political crisis in the Republic. MP
Larisa Alaverdyan, Heritage’s member in the Armenia-Ukraine Parliamentary
Friendship Group, also took part in the meeting.

Reflecting on the Mountainous Karabagh conflict and the document recently
adopted by the UN General Assembly with Ukraine’s support, Raffi Hovannisian
expressed regret that sometimes tabled resolutions are based solely on the
situational interests of states, while in other instances
selectively-applied rules for conflict settlement are applied at will. These
kinds of measures, in Hovannisian’s firm belief, can serve neither the just
and juridical solution of such key issues nor the consolidation of regional
security.

Within the framework of deepening Armenian-Ukrainian relations, the parties
also underscored the need for continual and effective cooperation between
the legislatures of the two countries and the well-aimed activities of the
Armenia-Ukraine Friendship Group.

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia,
with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10) 532.697, email
at [email protected] or [email protected], and website at

BROWBEATEN INTO LIBERALISM? AKP DISCUSSES REFORM PACKAGE
By Gareth Jenkins

Eurasia Daily Monitor
April 3 2008
DC

With less than a month to go before it is due to present its initial
defense before the Constitutional Court in the case for its closure
filed with by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya on March 14
(see EDM, March 17), there are signs that Turkey’s ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) may be rediscovering its EU aspirations.

On April 2, during an official visit to Sweden, Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan declared that his government was determined to push ahead
with liberalizing reforms to enable Turkey to meet the criteria for EU
accession, including further easing of restrictions on broadcasting in
Kurdish and reforming the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code, which makes it a criminal offence to denigrate "Turkishness."

"For us, the EU is a strategic target on our path to modernization,"
declared Erdogan. "Turkish accession to the EU has always been a
priority for our government" (Radikal, Milliyet, Hurriyet, April 3).

In truth, this is not how it has always appeared to outside observers,
least of all to the EU itself. The AKP introduced a battery of reforms
in the first three years after coming to power in November 2002, and
it officially opened accession negotiations in October 2005. Since
then the AKP has appeared to lose interest in the EU process. Not
only did it fail to introduce any new reforms but it was reluctant to
implement fully those that it had already legislated or to honor all
the commitments it had given to the EU in order to open accession
negotiations. The most notable of these was a promise to open its
ports and airports to ships and planes from the Greek Cypriot Republic
of Cyprus.

Writers and intellectuals have also continued to be prosecuted under
Article 301. On March 31, in a response to a parliamentary question,
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin admitted that in 2006 the Turkish
courts had heard 835 cases under Article 301, involving 1,533 people,
of whom 1,314 were men and 219 women. During the first three months
of 2007, the latest period for which Sahin gave figures, a further
185 cases were opened under Article 301. (Hurriyet webpage, March 31)
Although, Sahin did not provide statistics, the majority of cases
concluded to date appear to have ended in acquittal. Most of the
minority found guilty have received suspended sentences rather than
time in jail. Nevertheless, for every person prosecuted there are
undoubtedly dozens, perhaps hundreds, who are reluctant to express
an opinion for fear of ending up in court. Even more worryingly,
prosecution under Article 301 frequently results in the accused
receiving death threats from ultranationalist extremists and-as
happened with the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
in January 2007-can flag them as targets for assassination.

Turkish politicians have a long tradition of being hawks at home
and doves abroad, placating their foreign listeners with promises of
democratizing reforms and then failing to implement them when they
return home for fear of antagonizing authoritarian opinion. However,
this time at least, self-interest appears to be on the side of
liberalism.

Ever since Yalcinkaya first filed his application for the closure
of the AKP, and particularly since it was formally accepted by the
Constitutional Court on March 31 (see EDM, April 1), party members
have been feverishly discussing the introduction of a reform package.

The only serious point of contention is whether the government
should only seek to amend the articles of the constitution that allow
political parties to be closed (see EDM, March 21) or whether these
amendments should be part of a broader democratization package that
would also lift other restrictions.

All major decisions in the AKP are taken by Erdogan himself (see EDM,
February 15). If he consults with anybody else at all, it is with an
inner court of trusted advisors rather than the party as whole.

Before Erdogan left for Sweden, the indications were that he had
yet to make up his mind. Privately, however, some members of the
AKP parliamentary party admit that they would be very uncomfortable
with a reform package that only benefited the AKP. There is even
a possibility that, if such a package came before parliament, they
would join with the opposition in voting against it.

Erdogan’s statement in Sweden has reinforced the impression that he
will actively seek foreign support in staving off what many in the AKP
regard as an attempted judicial coup. Whether the Constitutional Court
will eventually rule to outlaw the AKP remains unclear. In the past,
Turkish political parties have been closed down by the court on much
flimsier evidence than that contained in Yalcinkaya’s indictment.

One of the many ironies of Turkish politics is that each time an
Islamist party has been closed, it has been replaced by a more liberal
one. In the 1970s, Erdogan was a member of the National Salvation Party
(MSP), whose members often explicitly called for the establishment
of an Islamic state. After the MSP was closed down following the
1980 military coup, its former members established the Welfare
Party (RP), which was less hard-line than the MSP but still very
anti-Western and committed to establishing a state based on religious
principles. When the RP was outlawed by the Constitutional Court in
1998, it was replaced by the Virtue Party (FP), which was still very
conservative but which nevertheless became the first Turkish Islamist
party to support EU accession. When the FP too was closed down in
2001, it was replaced by the AKP. On taking power in November 2002,
the AKP introduced more pro-EU, liberalizing reforms than any other
political party, Islamist or otherwise, in recent Turkish history.

There is little doubt that on each occasion the prosecutors who
filed the closure cases simply wanted to remove the party in question
from the political arena. Yet, through the use of authoritarian and
undemocratic methods, they appear to have inadvertently browbeaten
them into becoming more liberal.

S. SARGSYAN: "CO-CHAIRMEN ARE OPTIMISTIC"

Panorama.am
20:00 03/04/2008

Today early in the morning the Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
had a meeting with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen and the OSCE
ongoing president’s representative Anjey Kasprchik in Novotel Hotel.

According to the public relations department of the Government,
the negotiations process of the NKR question were discussed and
evaluated. The co-chairmen presented the results of the meeting held
with the president of Azerbaijan Ilhaam Aliev. Serzh Sargsyan said
that he was seriously concerned with the activities carried out by the
Azeri side and the recent violation of the armistice and the shooting
in the border line of the NKR and Azerbaijan. He also reaffirmed the
approach and position of the Republic of Armenia to solve the problem
through the negotiations with the support of the OSCE Minsk group.

After the meeting Serzh Sargsyan received the journalists and said
that he felt the co-chairmen have optimistic view points. As for
the possible meeting the president of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister
answered that he had expressed his position and said that he would
not stand against that particular meeting in the frame works of some
summit or session if, of course, the other side agreed.

The OSCE Minsk group co-chairman Mathew Bryza also shared his opinions
with the journalists after the meeting. "This is quite long we know
the president-elect Prime Minister. We know him and we think that
we can keep working with him even later on and improve the stage of
the negotiations."

As for the changing the format of the NKR regulation, Bryza said
that there is only one single format of it and that is the OSCE Minsk
group. He said that there is no need to change that one.

OSCE WORKSHOP IN ARMENIA TO FOCUS ON CROSS-BORDER ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY CONCERNS

armradio.am
03.04.2008 10:22

Representatives from the Armenian government and civil society will
discuss the importance of integrating environment and security
considerations into national policy and planning at a workshop
organized by the Environment and Security (ENVSEC) Initiative on
Friday.

ENVSEC is a joint partnership between the OSCE, the United Nations
Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme,
the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the Regional
Environmental Centre for South-Eastern Europe, and the NATO Security
through Science Program as an associated partner.

ENVSEC works closely with national governments in South Eastern Europe,
Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus to assess and address
environmental threats to security, and to promote better regional
relations through co-ordinated environmental co-operation.

The National Workshop in Yerevan will provide participants with
an overview of current ENVSEC activities and will pave the way for
further co-operation in the South Caucasus region.

Workshops are also being held in Azerbaijan and Georgia this month.

ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADER IS FOR THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE AUTHORITIES AND THE OPPOSITION BUT WITHOUT PARTICIPATION OF THE FIRST ARMENIAN PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSYAN

arminfo
2008-04-01 16:27:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Democratic Party leader Aram Sarkisyan is for
the dialogue between the authorities and the opposition but without
participation of the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan,
he said at today’s press-conference in Pastarq club.

He also added that the dialogue is necessary in case if its
potential parties want to resolve the problem. ‘I am sure that Levon
Ter-Petrosyan is not going to resolve the problem’, – Sarkisyan said
and added that ‘another point is who to have a dialogue with’. He
thinks that the dialogue is possible with several opposition parties,
but he did not specify their names. Sarkisyan recalled that the
principle position of the DPA is ‘not to be there where Ter-Petrosyan
and his team are’. This is a principle position and it does not depend
on conjecture, Sarkisyan emphasized. As for possible affect of external
forces on the events in Armenia, Sarkisyan said that ‘Ter-Petrosyan’s
interview with Washington Post contains answer to this question’.

THEY DREAM OF NEW CLASHES

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
April 01, 2008

Victor Soghomonyan says: "By demanding permission for new rallies
and demonstrations the political powers backing Levon Ter-Petrosyan
most probably demand to give them opportunity for new clashes and
bloodshed."

We should remind you that recently some parties complained that they
are deprived of the opportunity to hold rallies and demonstration.

"We shouldn’t forget that the parties which have signed under the
announcement shoulder direct or intermediary responsibility for March
1 tragic events. Unfortunately the contents of the announcement prove
that their policy to sew hatred and intolerance hasn’t changed.

By unfairly substituting the meaning, calling anarchy and hooliganism
as "civil freedom", today they demand permission for rallies and
demonstrations from the authorities, which openly means that they
demand permission for new clashes and bloodshed. This conscious
obsession is the worst danger for our democracy and not the forethought
of the authorities for the people’s security." Victor Soghomonyan
said to MEDIAMAX agency.

NONFOOD COMMODITY PRICES REMAIN UNCHANGED IN ARMENIA IN MARCH 2008

Noyan Tapan
April 1, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Under conditions of the overall
unchanged level of prices in Armenian nonfood commodity market in
March 2008, there were some price changes both in terms of decline
and growth.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, prices of cosmetics,
footwear, furniture, building materials, kitchen utensils, textiles,
carpets ad jewelry grew by 0.1-2.6% in the indicated period. In
parallel with it, a fall was registered in prices of fuel (2.8% in
connection with 4% fall in price of liquid petroleum gas), cultural
goods (1.3%), domestic electric appliances (1.2%), detergents (0.2%),
stationery (0.2%).

Prices in the other commodity groups under observation remained at
the level of the previous month.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND BAKO SAHAKIAN DISCUSSED ISSUES REFERRING TO DEEPENING TIES BETWEEN RA AND NKR

DeFacto Agency
April 1 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 01.04.08. DE FACTO. The issues referring to developing and
deepening ties between the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic were discussed March 31 in Stepanakert in the course of
a meeting of the RA and NKR Presidents – Robert Kocharian and Bako
Sahakian.

According to the Central Department of Information under the NKR
President, the meeting of the two Armenian states’ Presidents proceeded
in warm and natural atmosphere. The interlocutors discussed the issues
referring to social-economic situation in the NKR and the perspectives
of the Karabakh conflict settlement.

To note, Armenian President Robert Kocharian arrived in Stepanakert
March 31 on a short-term visit.

POLITICAL COALITION EXTENDS

Panorama.am
14:53 31/03/2008

The second stage of the political coalition reforms can be successfully
come to its end headed by the Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and the
political forces immerged into it, said Eduard Sharmazanov a member
of the Republican Party.

He did not exclude the possibility of extending the political coalition
by some non parliamentary forces.

The deputy refused to name any force. "Such development is much
possible. The elected president has always been saying that we need
dialogue with all healthy political forces," he said.

E. Sharmazanov said that it is important to have such government which
could meet the reforms and problems of the country and public. "The
forming government should create the sense of trust in the hearts of
our people," he said and added that only those who can solve problems
and contribute to the improvement of those questions.